


Young Mister Stark

by buckyismymainman



Series: Avengers Oneshots [42]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Some angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24862813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckyismymainman/pseuds/buckyismymainman
Summary: Peggy Carter tries to help mend the relationship between a young Tony and his dad.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: Avengers Oneshots [42]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1314041
Kudos: 13





	Young Mister Stark

Tony had known from a very early age that his dad was someone important. He was always away on business trips, and men in expensive suits would come to his house sometimes for dinners. His mother always told him that he had to be on his best behavior because these were clients of his father’s.

Tony would put on a suit and go to dinner too even though as a young child he found it extremely boring.

As he got older he realized that he was being groomed to take over the business. He was smart like his father and one day he would be running Stark Industries. He grew to resent his dad more and more.

What if he didn’t want to be the next CEO of Stark Industries? What if he didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps?

Out of everyone his father knew Peggy Carter was his favorite person in the entire world. She treated him like a person and not some future mogul that would probably turn out to be just like his father.

“Tony,” she was at the house one day and had just finished talking to Howard when she appeared in Tony’s doorway. “Would you like to take a walk with me?”

Tony nodded, setting his homework aside and following her out to his mother’s garden. Peggy gently lifted a rose to her nose and inhaled. “You seem sad today,” Tony remarked as she stood up straight.

Peggy hummed, “I lost someone important on this day many years ago.”

Tony frowned, “Let me guess, Steve Rogers?” He had heard all about Steve from Howard. The man would never shut up about how great he was. “Dad’s told me all about him.”

Peggy touched Tony’s shoulder, “No he hasn’t, your father has told you about the experiment gone right, not the man that Steve Rogers was.” Tony gave her a curious look. 

“What do you mean?” 

Peggy started walking again, going deeper into the garden, “Steve was more than who everyone saw him as. He was loyal, brave, and kind. When I first met Steve, he was this small man from Brooklyn who wanted more than anything to fight in the war for his country. He always said he didn’t like bullies. He went by himself to a HYDRA base to save his best friend and wound up saving hundreds of other men as well.” Tony and Peggy sat on a stone bench, Peggy’s eyes far off as she remembered her lost love. “He gave up his life to save millions. Your father was friends with Steve, yes, but all he could see was his success. And I know you’re probably tired of hearing about him, but don’t judge Steve because of your father.”

Tony frowned, “I just feel like he cares more about Captain America than he does his own son.”

Peggy took Tony’s hand and gave it a squeeze, “Your father loves you, Tony. He just has a hard time expressing it.”

“Agent Carter!” They looked up to see Colonel Phillips standing in the doorway. “We need to go.”

Peggy released a sigh, “Do try to judge your father less harshly. He loves you more than you realize.” She kissed the top of his head and headed over to where Colonel Phillips, she glanced back and waved one last time before disappearing back inside the house.

Peggy watched Tony in his dad’s lab one day, Howard was standing beside her. “He’s turning into me,” Howard said, a little bit of awe in his tone. “I mean he’s a carbon copy of me at that age.”

Peggy smiled, her eyes never leaving Tony as he continued to tinker away on whatever it was he was building. “You should tell him that, Howard. You should spend more time with him as your son rather than your offspring. He loves you, but he hates the way you act towards him.”

Howard looked down at the ground, “I know, I always swore I wouldn’t be like this with my kid, but here we are.”

“It’s not too late,” Peggy said softly. “Go in there and tinker away with him. Help him, just be his dad and not the man who runs a multimillion dollar company.”

Howard nodded and stepped into the lab, “Tony.”

Tony looked up and saw that his dad had decided to join him. “Hello, Dad,” Tony said a bit warily. Was he going to get yelled out for tinkering away on some of his dad’s projects? He knew how his father could be about things like this, but he couldn’t help but make some adjustments to what his dad had been working on. “Did you need something?”

Howard shook his head, “No, I just thought I’d come in and offer some help.”

Tony blinked, he hadn’t been expecting that. “Sure, I, uh, I was just working on a prototype for something called an AI.”

“What will it be able to do?” Howard asked curiously.

“Well AI stands for Artificial Intelligence and in theory, it can do anything you require,” he said. He began talking passionately about it, telling Howard the big ideas he had for his own AI system that he would name after their old butler Jarvis. Tony had been close with Jarvis when he had been younger and had admired the man. He wanted to honor him in some way.

Peggy watched as father and son worked together, bouncing ideas off each other and sometimes even laughing. It was the closest she had seen the two in a very long time.

They worked through the night until they had the basics for the first Stark Industries AI. It would be a few years before the kinks were worked out, but Tony was already pretty happy with the success and even more happy that his father had actually helped him with it. It had been one of the happier moments of their relationship.


End file.
